Libertarian Party USofA

Fully Informed Jury

candidate questionnaire / response

1. What will be your top three priorities as governor?

2. The Legislative Fiscal Division is warning that revenues are coming in below projections, causing concern for Fiscal Year 2017. The state budget office is much more optimistic. Who do you believe and why?

3. Is it time for Montana to consider steady streams of revenue such as a sales tax? Why or why not?

4. Is infrastructure still a top priority in the next legislative session? What are your plans for the issue?

5. Do you support Medicaid expansion? If you do is it worth the cost? If you don’t, what is your message to the Montanans who have signed up?

6. Do you support efforts being made by local groups to bring in refugees? What role should a governor play when it’s a decision by the federal government?

7. Public land access has become a hot-button issue. What is your assessment of the threat of such access being in jeopardy in the state?

8. While reports show that salaries are increasing, they are still low in many sectors. What can a governor do to not only lure jobs to the state, but jobs with a sustainable salary?

9. What plans do you have for public education and increasing test scores in the state?

10. What are your thoughts of public funds for private education?

11. What issue during this campaign season do you wish was getting more attention and why?

12. Is there something we forgot to ask that you’d like to use this space to say?

1-Top Priorities:

1. End Prohibition Again. It had horrible side-effects in the 1920’s and is much worse with this 50-year war on cannabis, which is not only less damaging than alcohol, it has numerous proven beneficial uses.

2. Direct Montana’s environmental agencies to investigate potential chemical pollution from airborne particulates. Agencies in numerous other states including our western neighbors have found astronomically abnormal high levels of aluminum, barium and strontium that may be dangerous to all life and the cause of massive forest die-offs.

3. Restore local control of forest management, education and other federal over-reach.

2-Revenue Concerns:

No intelligent family spends down to its last dollar. No well run entity does either. I believe in solid fiscal responsibility. I will work to cut planned state expenses to well below the most conservative income projections. Libertarian principles work very well towards accomplishing that: keep the government out of private business as much as possible.

3-Sales Tax:

A “modest sales tax” is the camel’s nose in the tent. Government is a dangerous parasite on the productive class limited only by the tolerance and strength of the host. I promise to move the state government towards more personal liberty, more economic freedom and an increasingly vibrant economy.

4-Infrastructure

Highway users quite adequately pay for transportation infrastructure at the fuel pumps. Political diversion of those earmarked funds are the problem, and the place I will fight that battle.

5-Medicaid Expansion

I wholeheartedly support FREE MEDICAL CARE. The word “free” means unfettered, unrestricted, unencumbered and independent. The biggest problem with our health care system is the lack of freedom to choose our providers and protocols. Without competition, the market stagnates, innovation is crushed, knowledge restricted, competition killed, and costs have no practical limit.

We very definitely do not need a medicaid expansion.

6-Refugees

I have no problem with people being free to move across borders in order to support and raise their families in a healthy environment. However, the current humanitarian-sounding “refugee program” is the spending of US dollars to import homeless, jobless people from countries that made-in-USA bombs destroyed. These imports are not, will not be good for our country. These programs are either insane or evil.

7-Public Land Access

Montana’s forest and wild-land management by bureaucrats in Washington DC is no better than other over-steps of their constitutional authority. They have neither authority nor competency in managing our public land.

8-Luring Jobs to Montana

It is often said that the free market is a flawed system, but the best the world has seen. Removing governmental barriers to private enterprise success will be the most effective thing we can do to make Montana attractive to employers, entrepreneurs, innovators and creators. Favoring one over another always results in negative consequences.

9-Public Education

Designing public schools around national test score standards is proof they have lost sight of the objectives. Five years out of high school hardly any can name something useful 13 years of education gave them, but they passed standardized tests all along the way. I would destroy links to federal think tanks and empower Montana’s education professionals to teach useful, relevant skills and knowledge.

10-Public Funds for Private Schools

There is nor more sure way to destroy the value of private schools than to plug them into government programs. Money doled out by a state bureaucracy is a bad idea.

Our state government annually spends $11,000 per K-12 student. Were state tax deductions of $5,500 per student allowed for scholarships, tuition or expenses to any education program, not only would the state save an equal amount, it would provide a huge boost to government school alternatives that serve a much wider range of individual needs than the government education monolith possibly can, without creating another agency, programs or overhead.

11-Campaign issue deserving more attention

The 50-year-old war on cannabis products and users is the most obviously destructive program our state government is involved in. Roughly one third of our police, court and prison system is wasted protecting people from the claim they might hurt themselves … by most assuredly destroying their lives and their families.

The last three presidents in a row are, and were known recreational cannabis users. Jimmy Carter and John F Kennedy both used it medicinally, yet it remains illegal for the commoners. That is nonsense.

12-… furthermore

The media and politicians have a bad habit of working to elect leaders. The job of Montana Governor is to manage the state government – NOT to manage the people of the state, nor to direct their activities.

I am in no way seeking to be placed in front of a parade of followers. The job I want to do is directing the resources of our state government to get out of the way; to encourage the free people of Montana to thrive with care to not violate the rights of their fellow men.